Do Human Line Drawings Promote Children's Accurate Reporting of Touching?

描述（由申请人提供）：人体线条图（HLD's）通常用于专业人员就涉嫌性虐待采访儿童；然而，关于其可行性的科学信息很少。本提案的主要目的是在认知发展框架内确定在对被问及“触摸”的幼儿进行访谈时使用hld的益处和风险。研究旨在检验以下假设：1 . HLD增加了儿童提供的关于过去感动事件的准确信息的数量，但没有增加错误的数量。2。在一次完整的口头面试后引入HLD会产生最大的好处和最小的风险。3。HLD的物理特性影响其可行性；减少空间定向问题的HLD是最有效的。四、HLD对理解符号表征的幼儿最有效；与传统的面试方式相比，没有给最大的孩子画图纸的面试方式几乎没有增加的好处或风险。将对3-8岁的儿童进行两组研究。第一组研究包括参加我们实验室魔术表演的社区儿童；在魔术表演中，孩子们在许多地方被无伤大哈地碰了一下。第二组研究包括到特定诊所就诊并接受生殖器和/或肛门检查的儿童。魔术表演/体检两周后，孩子们将接受采访，并被问及发生和未发生的事件。儿童将被随机分配到不同的访谈条件中：口头访谈之后是HLD，或者HLD之后是口头访谈。在一些研究中，访谈的HLD部分的暗示性会有所不同；在其他研究中，HLD的物理特征会有所不同。如果儿童在HLD中提供了额外的信息（不是在口头访谈中提供的），并且没有提供不准确的信息，那么HLD将被认为是可行的。这些研究的结果对于那些就性虐待或他们的身体问题采访儿童的专业人士来说非常重要。他们将为那些在被要求提供重要信息时往往不愿意提供的幼儿提供有关这项有前途的技术的风险和益处的科学信息。此外，还将提供最有效使用该文书的准则。这两组研究的结果也将涉及有关幼儿符号表征发展的理论问题；这一提议的独特贡献在于，它的重点是人体的符号表征，而不是空间中其他物理对象的符号表征。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Human line drawings (HLD's) are commonly used by professionals who interview children about suspected sexual abuse; however, there is little scientific information about their feabilitity, The major objective of this proposal is to determine within a cognitive developmental framework the benefits and risks of using HLDs in interviews with young children who are questioned about "touching". Studies are designed to test the following hypotheses: I. HLD's increase the amount of accurate information but not the number of errors that children provide about a past touching event. II. HLD's produce the greatest benefits and fewest risks when introduced after a complete verbal interview. III. The physical characteristics of HLD's influence their feasibility; HLD's that decrease spatial orientation problems are most effective. IV. HLD's are most effective with young children who undertand symbolic representation; there will be little incremental benefit or risk over traditional interviews with no drawings for the oldest children. Two sets of studies will be carried out with children between the ages of 3-8 years. The first set of studies includes children from the community who participate in a magic show in our laboratory; during the magic show children are innocuously touched in a number of places. The second set of studies includes children who attend specific medical clinics and receive genital and/or anal examinations. Two weeks after the magic show/medical examination children will be interviewed and asked questions about events that did occur as well as events that did not occur. Children will be randomized to different interviewing conditions: verbal interview followed by HLD's or HLD's followed by verbal interview. In some studies the suggestiveness of the HLD segment of the intervew will vary; in other studies, the physical characteristics of the HLD's will vary. If children provide additional information with HLD's (not provided in verbal interviews) and do not provide inaccurate information, then HLD's would be considered feasible for interviewing children. The results of these studies will be important for professionals who interview children about sexual abuse or about their bodies in general. They will provide scientific information about the risks and benefits of a promising technique for young children who often do not readily provide important information when asked for it. In addition, guidelines for the most effective uses of the instrument will be provided. The results of the two sets of studies will also address theoretical issues concerning the development of symbolic representation in young children; the unique contribution of this proposal is that the focus is on symbolic representation of the human body rather than on symbolic representation of other physical objects in space.